Manufacturing & The Economy

New orders for manufactured durable goods in May increased $8.0 billion or 3.6% to $231.0 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday. This increase, up three of the last four months, followed a 3.6% April increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.5%.

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in May, up three of the last four months, increased $2.8 billion or 1.2% to $229.7 billion. This followed a 0.6% April decrease.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in May, up four of the last five months, increased $0.5 billion or 0.1% to $378.0 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992, and followed a 0.3% April increase.